Elon Musk: Kanye West and Fuentes caused 'major spike' in hate speech

2022-12-02

Elon Musk says Twitter will publish examples of ‘actual’ hate speech every week starting today after being accused by The New York Times of driving a spike – and says Kanye, Nick Fuentes and Trump drove ‘major’ surge

Musk brushed off a New York Times report that claimed hate speech was spiking at an unprecedented level because of his leadership
The Times report said it had grown three fold in some areas
Musk said he’d produce data later today of ‘actual’ hate speech examples
He also said Kanye West and Nick Fuentes visiting Trump at Mar-a-Lago caused a ‘major spike’
Musk banned West from the site last night after a string of anti-Semitic remarks
Since taking over in October, he has rewritten the rules on what actually counts as hate speech on the site

Elon Musk says Twitter will begin publishing examples of accounts pushing hate speech every week starting today after being accused of driving it himself.

Musk said that Kanye West and white supremacist Nick Fuentes’ connection with Trump caused a ‘major spike’.

‘Twitter will be publishing actual “hate speech” (same list company has always used) impressions later today & every week going forward,’ he said.

Fuentes and West met with Trump at his Florida estate Mar-a-Lago on November 22. On November 25, Trump posted on Truth social that he didn’t know who Fuentes was at the time. That Truth Social post drove a ‘major spike’, said Musk, as he brushed off a New York Times report that suggested he was to blame for the surge.

The New York Times published a report today citing researchers who said homophobic, racist and anti-Semitic tweets had increased at an unprecedented scale since Musk took control of the site at the end of October.

Musk said that Kanye West and white supremacist Nick Fuentes’ connection with Trump caused a ‘major spike’.

The CEO said Twitter is being ‘fair’ and aims to serve ‘people who wish to learn, laugh and engage’

Kanye West and Nick Fuentes are shown together visiting Mar-a-Lago on November 22

On November 25, Trump posted this message on Truth Social, calling West a ‘seriously troubled man’ who has been ‘decimated in his business’ . He claimed he didn’t know who Nick Fuentes was

‘1,282 times a day. After the billionaire became Twitter’s owner, they jumped to 3,876 times a day,’ the Times article said.

Musk however insists there are more users on the site than ever before, that would by nature lead to a numerical jump in hate speech.

Since taking over in October, he has also re-written the rules on what counts as hate speech on the site, and has reinstated multiple conservative voices that were previously banned.

‘Problematic content and formerly barred accounts have increased sharply in the short time since Elon Musk,’ said the Times headline.

The report, based on data from the Center for Countering Digital Hate, ADL and ‘other groups that study online platforms’, ‘provide the most comprehensive picture to date of how conversations on Twitter have changed since his $44 billion deal for the company in late October,’ the article said.

The New York Times on Friday published a report citing recent data from the ADL that blames Musk for a surge in ‘hate speech’

Musk defenders seized on the report as fake news and a ‘hit piece’ against him. They demanded to know how much of a spike was driven by West and Fuentes, and also pointed out that user engagement had surged too

‘Elon Musk sent up the Bat Signal to every kind of racist, misogynist and homophobe that Twitter was open for business.

‘They have reacted accordingly,’ Imran Ahmed, the chief executive of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, told the notoriously leftist newspaper.

‘Yawn. Another hit piece against Elon Musk from the NY Slimes. Here’s the deal: Engaged minutes & global daily users are through the roof.

‘There are 250,000,000+ daily users on Twitter. You are talking about a few thousand ‘offenses.’ Cry harder about free speech, you frauds,’ tweeted FOX News write Kyle Becker.

Last night, Musk was pushed to the edge by Kanye West’s most recent anti-Semitic remarks.

West tweeted a swastika inside a Star of David, claiming it would become his 2024 campaign slogan.

Musk had vowed to ‘turn the other cheek’ after West and Fuentes appeared on Alex Jones together, but he banned the rapper for ‘inciting violence’ last night.

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